A Teacher’s Guide to Marine Life

Marine biology is the scientific study of ocean organisms. Marine life is an enormous resource that contributes food, medicine, and other important materials to the people of the world. Ocean organisms contribute significantly to the oxygen cycle, help regulate the Earth’s climate, and some ocean organisms even help create new land.  This is a real opportunity to observe marine life.

The oldest private marine laboratory in the country is the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It currently supports a year-round staff of more than 275 scientists while working in such fields as cell and developmental biology, ecology, microbiology, molecular evolution, global infectious disease, neurobiology, and sensory physiology.

Marine Life Is Important

Biologists value marine life because they serve as excellent models for understanding all living systems. The Aquatic Resources Division of the Marine Resources Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory collects and distributes marine animals to qualified researchers, institutions and marine science educational programs. The vast array of quality ocean organisms are listed in a catalog found on the MBL website. If the internet does not work for you, request by mail at PO Box 546 Woods Hole, MA 02543 or by Phone at 508-548-8294.

The Marine Resources Center (MRC) maintains cultures, and provides aquatic organisms to biological, biomedical, and ecological research. Service and education also play important and complementary roles in this 32,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility. The MRC and its life support systems have increased the ability of MBL scientists to conduct research and have inspired new concepts in scientific experiments. The MRC provides a variety of community services through its Aquatic Resources Division, Aquaculture and Engineering Division, and Administrative Division.

A great resource for educators using marine aquariums to reach students is a Teachers’ Guide: Lessons and Activities created by Wood Hole Aquarist Beck Lash. After teaching third grade for thirteen years in a large public school, Becky Lash is now the aquarist at the Woods Hole Science Aquarium. As a complement to her work at Woods Hole, Becky provides hands-on demonstration about earthworms, she demonstrates the life and habits of worms, while stressing their benefits to people and the natural world, a riveting lecture appropriate for all ages.

Becky Lash, a fantastic teacher and gifted aquarist said this about working at Woods Hole, “It’s great fun. I get to tend to a harbor seal, sea turtles, all kinds of fish and inverts, and at the end of the day I’m soaking wet and smell like dead squid.”

The Teachers Guide ( Downloadable PDF): Lessons and Activities called: Ocean Animal Aquarium, Collection of Intertidal Organisms, Mini-Marine Ecosystem offers many interesting ways to use your educational aquariums as a teaching resources including:

• What can you do with an Marine Life aquarium in your classroom?
• How can you involve the students in its set-up and maintenance?
• How can you keep the students’ interest level high and continue to have the aquarium be a focal point of activities, rather than neglected once the initial novelty wears off?
• How can you use the aquarium to teach across curriculum areas?

This teachers’ guide offers suggestions for activities and ways to integrate the aquarium into daily classroom activities, ideas include:

Create a slideshow on the computer. Using an application such as KidPix or Powerpoint, have each student research an ocean organisms, make a drawing, and record a voice-over of information about that animal.

Keep an observation journal,  a notebook next to the tank, where students record their observations and thoughts. It could be a different student’s job each day to write something in it, or students could make entries whenever they have something they’d like to write about.

Marine Biological Laboratory Teachers Guide created by Becky Lash helps you and your students better understand the ocean organisms that live in marine aquariums, and if you are in need of marine life to live in your marine touch tank, contact the Marine Resources Center at Woods Hole, Massachusetts today.

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